Windows Phone market share now in third place worldwide as BlackBerry slips

According to new market share numbers from IDC, the International Data Corporation, Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system is now in third place worldwide. It snatches the position previously held by BlackBerry which is now in fourth place; or in other words, the land of mediocrity.

This past quarter, IDC reports that Windows Phone accounted for 3.2 percent of worldwide phone shipments. BlackBerry accounted for 2.9 percent. That’s pretty sad for a company that practically dominated the industry not too many years ago. Windows Phone growth is slow, but hey, at least it’s growth. In fact, it’s better than what IDC predicted. Behind BlackBerry is Linux with 1 percent market share and Symbian with 0.6 percent.

Meanwhile Android and iOS continue to run the world. Combined, they add up to 92.3 percent of the market share. Android, of course, has a wide lead internationally, claiming 75 percent of all smartphones sold last quarter, leaving iOS with the remainder of 17.3 percent.

Symbian actually saw the greatest decline percentage-wise. In the first quarter of 2012 (the year-ago quarter) it held at 6.8 percent share. Technically, Windows Phone actually saw the most growth by percentage, because it grew 133 percent. However that’s only moving from 2 percent to 3.2 percent. The biggest overall leap made was by Android — from 59.1 percent to 75 percent. Though iOS shipment volume increased, market share decreased from 23 percent to 17.3 percent.